Hi friends. A few bumps in the road the last 2 weeks but not giving up. I've lost about 5 inches since starting low carb 5 weeks ago. Here's the dilemma.......I've read alot of posts on here about folks losing 10-15 lbs the first few weeks to a month of low carbing. How low are you guys keeping your carbs to get that kind of loss??? I remember doing low carb last summer without any bumps in the road and only losing 4 pounds!! But definitely saw shrinkage in my body pics that I took from beginning to end. Just kind of frustrated i guess.
Kat

I can tell you that the first time I did LC I was eating less than 20g carbs per day for 10 months and I lost 40lbs. My body becomes used to that less than 20 and it became easier as time went on. Realistic point of view our body doesn't need that many carbs to live on. Some people will even tell you they don't eat any and that's just the way the cookie (eh...bacon..) crumbles. It's more for you to decide how fast you want to lose weight and how much weight you have to lose.

I originally did a 6 week Atkins induction - 15-20 grams a week, then followed the carb ladder until I discovered I go out of ketosis somewhere near 45 grams a day. I followed the plan for 1 year keeping my carbs in the 20-40 gram range, tho most days are on the lower end. In 1 year, I lost 80 pounds, an average of a little over 1.5 pounds a week. Sure, I had weeks I lost more, and weeks I didn't lose at all, but it was a pretty good rate all in all.

I'm currently doing a much less structured plan and don't keep track as well as I should, and the scale shows it. It's ok for me right now tho.

I eat under twenty net carbs (only subtracting fiber, I avoid sugar alcohols), and almost always under twenty total carbs daily.

Most of my carbs come from non-starchy veggies, then dairy and eggs, and then a moderate amount of higher carb veggies, like peppers and onions. Every once in a while, I'll have meat with carbs, like organ meat or shellfish.

I stay away from packaged foods, though I do drink some diet sodas. I drink a ton of water.

I've lost just over thirty pounds since January 3, which is slower than I used to be able to lose, but I'm older, on a bunch of meds (some of which interfere with weight loss), and hypothyroid now, so it is what it is. I could go stricter, but I wouldn't want to eat that way long-term. I can eat this way for the foreseeable future.

Don't forget that the less you have to lose, the less you'll lose in those first two weeks. If you were at your weight now when you lost those four pounds, that means you lost somewhere around ten percent of your perceived excess weight in two weeks. That's nothing to sneeze at! I bet the people who are reporting 10-15 pounds gone during induction also had a lot further to go to goal to begin with.

I aim for under 20 total carbs for the day lately, but I sometimes I allow myself a little wiggle room for green veggies since I don't subtract the fiber. Yesterday I only had 12 total carbs in my menu, so that was a good day

Like Ntombi said, the closer you are to goal the harder/slower it is to lose. I lost a decent chunk of my weight pretty quickly within that first month or so, but then it's started to slow down considerably. It's because I'm getting closer to my goal, and so I try to look at the slow loss as a good thing since it signifies that! The more people have to lose, the quicker it'll come off. I bet pretty much everyone you see with a dramatic quick weight loss fits into that category. It's nothing to be bummed out, just something to be aware of. I think that struggle to put off that last chunk of weight makes it that much more gratifying anyway! At least it has been to me

I follow south beach, so I'm allowing for more carbs than most, an average of 60-70 per day consisting mostly of vegetables, 1-2 glasses of milk and lean meats. I also keep total fat under 30g and around 1200 calories. It's very liveable and in the 5 weeks I've been on plan, I've lost 16.5 pounds (9 in 2 weeks, 2-2.5 a week thereafter) and definite inches. LC plans seem to vary greatly and whatever works for you is great. But for me, I find SB a nice approach to ongoing clean eating and when watching carbs, fats and calories, the weight seems to come off faster than when I just limit carbs. I'm also working out 4x a week for about 45-60 minutes.

I stick to 20 - 25g carbs per day. Occasionally I get a real real craving and I eat higher, and more often than not I lose more the following morning. I dunno. I used to use ketostix but it became something of an obsession and my mood would be affected by them, the shade of purple etc so I've stopped. I try not to weigh too often either

I eat under twenty net carbs (only subtracting fiber, I avoid sugar alcohols), and almost always under twenty total carbs daily.

Most of my carbs come from non-starchy veggies, then dairy and eggs, and then a moderate amount of higher carb veggies, like peppers and onions. Every once in a while, I'll have meat with carbs, like organ meat or shellfish.

I stay away from packaged foods, though I do drink some diet sodas. I drink a ton of water.

I've lost just over thirty pounds since January 3, which is slower than I used to be able to lose, but I'm older, on a bunch of meds (some of which interfere with weight loss), and hypothyroid now, so it is what it is. I could go stricter, but I wouldn't want to eat that way long-term. I can eat this way for the foreseeable future.

Don't forget that the less you have to lose, the less you'll lose in those first two weeks. If you were at your weight now when you lost those four pounds, that means you lost somewhere around ten percent of your perceived excess weight in two weeks. That's nothing to sneeze at! I bet the people who are reporting 10-15 pounds gone during induction also had a lot further to go to goal to begin with.

Thanks, Anna! My scale is doing a bouncy bouncy right now, so it helps to remember that I'm doing okay overall.

Absolutely!!!,
and,...my neighbor had WLS beginning of December and has lost to date; about 35lbs. You are losing even faster than she is!!! Your current average of 10-pounds a month is fantastic, all things considered .... Unless I missed your post -weight loss wise,...You kinda "Slipped" that one in on us huh?

Oh and "bouncy bounce", I'm no stranger to that , I do allow myself a little leeway, since I am no longer strict LC'-ing and I have set a *high* goal for myself of 175. Coming from 330+ and having never been thin, I'm content with that

I eat between 40-100g of carbs daily now. When I first began low carbing, I avg'd 20 net grams per day for 18 months, roughly. I then switched to Paleo after dabbling with nutritional ketosis before I've settled on the Whole30 which is strict Paleo. For me, getting rid of all processed foods except coconut milk in a can and coconut oil, has helped me lose weight and inches along with giving me enough energy to exercise or be active every day of the week. When I did just low carb, I lost only 12lbs and maintained that for 18 months. So this new plan really fits my body. Just took me awhile to accept and figure it out! Lol!

__________________As of 5/19/2014, No longer "overweight"!
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Can now see my xylophone
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Do not reward yourself with food, you're not a dog
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Your great granny's granny had a term for healthy food...she called it food